Doing a touch+go live web demo of Breaking the News at a Skillset/LDA event at The Guardian Newsroom - the very building in Farringdon Raod where i started my career as a runner in AKA's studio

Giving N a book about codes to encourage him away from screens during his half-term and hearing about his decoding activities from today - D got a beautifully put-together activity book around Tintin and Snowy (published by Egmont who also publish Herge's albums)

Immersing myself in the Battle of the Bulge through Scott Turow's Ordinary Hero from the London Undergrouind, warmer and marginally safer

Percy Wyndham Lewis - Froanna (the artist's wife) 1937
A different kind of brown palette - red/browen lifted with blue (incl her eyes)
Warmth and intimacy of an interior with only a sliver of daylight yet something cool about her
A superficial modernism

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Showing off London - taking my sister-in-law Elizabeth (from Dublin) on a walk from Charles Dickens' house on Doughty Street to Waterloo Bridge via the Inns of Court

A rare visit to the theatre (with Elizabeth, Bronagh, Joan and U) to see Frank McGuinness' new play 'There Came a Gypsy Riding' at the Almeida, Islington - featuring a cracking performance from Eileen Atkins.

Taking D to his guitar lesson - sneaking a look through the window at how comfortable he is with the instrument, then a sunny interlude in Avenue House park with my book (a WW2 yarn from Scott Turow)

Friday, February 16, 2007

i am running down the hill at Hale Lane [Mill Hill, London NW7 where i grew up] when i notice i've no running shoes on, just white short socks, but i'm enjoying the flow and ease of it too much so don't care - just delight in the speed of the running...

It was interesting to hear this throw-away remark (I missed it when I listened to the first broadcast last weekend), interesting because I have a similar relationship to song lyrics. Strange for a lover of Dylan and similar but I really struggle to engage with lyrics in a whole or analytical way. They're more like part of an audio collage to me. Glints of light, a diamond spinning in the dark.

A good rounded choice from Mr Shameless punctuating a raw, honest, insightful and illuminating interview:

Record: Town Called MaliceBook: Complete works of Arthur MillerLuxury: Writing pad and pencils

Particularly like his One Record - it's an explosive song, brilliantly exploited in 'Billy Elliott' - a kicking the wall song. Yes, really kicking. He zooms in on it as an expression of creative anger, constructive shouting, exactly as his writing is.